This invention relates generally to the field of mobile home construction and transport. More particularly the invention relates to an improved mobile home carriage assembly that provides additional vertical clearance for the transport of a finished mobile home.
The U.S. Department of Transportation regulates the maximum highway dimensions for motor vehicles and trailers, including mobile homes. Mobile home manufacturers have been successful in compensating for width limitations by the introduction of the now familiar xe2x80x9cdouble widexe2x80x9d construction technique. However, significant constraints are still imposed on the maximum vertical height that a mobile home can achieve. These constraints limit the sidewall height and roof pitch combinations attainable in conventional mobile home construction techniques.
Accordingly, mobile home manufactures and consumers have been forced to strike a balance between a desired wall height and roof pitch. With an increased wall height, the roof pitch must be substantially reduced. With an increased roof pitch, the wall height must be reduced accordingly. Each of these constraints combines to give mobile homes distinctive characteristics that may detract from their aesthetic appearance. These characteristics are often the subject of local zoning ordinances that may specify minimum roof pitch or wall height combinations. These ordinances often preclude owners from locating their homes in certain places within a community, or preclude them from locating their homes in a community entirely.
Some mobile home manufacturers have attempted to compensate for the limitations in vertical transport height by utilizing an expandable roof design. In the transport configuration, the mobile home roof is stowed in a collapsed condition. Upon placement at a desired home site, the roof is elevated and secured in its expanded condition. While this technique has enjoyed some success, the expandable roof design tends to experience integrity problems with substantially greater frequency than traditional fixed roof designs.
While the industry has attempted to change the mobile home construction techniques to compensate for vertical clearance limitations, it has generally failed to address the constraints imposed by conventional transport methods employed in the mobile home industry. While conventional transport carriages may vary in the types, number, and placement of the axles, such carriages continue to be placed underneath the mobile home frame. By utilizing an under carriage configuration, the mobile home transported on such a carriage must sacrifice vertical height to maintain sufficient highway clearance.
Accordingly, there is a need in the mobile home industry for a transport method that permits an increase in mobile home wall height or roof pitch while maintaining sufficient highway clearance during transport of the mobile home to a desired location.
The present invention addresses the problems identified above and offers other operational and economic advantages over conventional mobile home carriage assemblies. The present invention includes a transport dolly and tongue assembly that permits a finished mobile home to be transported in an underslung condition, thereby recapturing vertical clearance lost due to conventional under carriage transport systems.
The mobile home transport dolly includes an upper frame that provides the structural support for the dolly and attachment points for suspension of the load bearing transport wheels. A vertical spacing frame is attached to a forward end of the upper frame and provides the desired vertical drop for the mobile home. Coupling extensions are attached to the spacing frame and project forwardly therefrom. The coupling extensions are attached to the lower frame members of the mobile home and may be secured thereto by attachment means, such as bolts or pins. By this arrangement, the dolly wheels are moved from a position beneath the mobile home frame to a position above and behind the mobile home frame. The repositioning of the dolly wheels from beneath the mobile home frame permits the aft end of the mobile home to be lowered significantly from its conventional transport height.
The mobile home transport tongue assembly is a modified version of conventional mobile home tongue assembly that permits lowering of the front end of the mobile home commensurate with that provided by the transport dolly. The modified tongue assembly permits the mobile home to be supported by tongue extensions substantially lower than conventional tongue assemblies do. The tongue assembly of the present invention substantially shortens the tongue extensions of the conventional mobile home tongue assembly. Rather than being placed underneath the mobile home, the shortened tongue extensions are positioned in abutment with the front face of the mobile home frame. In place of the standard tongue extensions, coupling support extensions are attached to the under side of the modified conventional tongue and extend rearward therefrom. The coupling support extensions are provided attachment pads that correspond with those of the conventional tongue assembly. By this modification, the front end of the mobile home may be lowered by an amount commensurate with the height of the conventional mobile home tongue assembly. By selecting taller spacing frame members, additional clearance may be achieved.
As with conventional tongue assemblies, the tongue assembly of the present invention is removable upon placement of the mobile home at the desired location. While the conventional carriage assemblies may also be removed from the mobile home, they are frequently left in place on the mobile home. This may be partially explained by the desire to have wheels in place for an anticipated or unanticipated move. However, more frequently, the decision to leave the carriage assemblies in place stems from the difficulty of removing the assemblies, combined with the difficulty of transporting the carriages once they are removed from the mobile home. In that regard, the present invention solves both of these problems. First, the transport dolly is readily detachable from the mobile home frame. Second, the transport dolly may be attached to the tongue assembly and readily towed back to the mobile home manufacturing facility or sales lot.